Gas-engine



H. G. HART. GAS ENGINE.

( No Model.)

Patented Oct. 20, 1896.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY O. HART, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

GAS-ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent Iva 569,918, dated October20, 1896. Applicationfiled May 81, 1894. Serial No- 513,061. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern;

. Be it known that I, HENRY O. HART, of Detroit, in the county of Wayneand State of Michigan, have invented anew and useful Improvement inGas-Engines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to gas-engines; and it consists in the improvementshereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, the figure is a plan view, partlyin section, of so much of a gas-engine as is necessary to illustrate myinvention.

B is the main shaft, and O O are the flywheels, of the engine.

D D are drums keyed upon the shaft B.

E E are arms pivoted upon the shaft 13 between the drums D D. The arms EE are free to turn in a positive direction (looking from the lower sideof the figure) independent of the shaft B and drums D D, but areprevented from turning in the other direction independent of said drumsby a clutch.

F Fis a cylinder which is closed to the outer air at both ends. The rearend of said cylinder from a. to b is made larger than the remainder andis closed by a movable piston P.

G is a piston adapted to fit and reciprocate in the smaller portion ofthe cylinder F. H is a piston-rod attached to said piston and extendingthrough a stuffing-box in the forward end of said cylinder.

I is a connecting-rod pivoted at one end to the outer end of thepiston-rod H and at the other end to the free ends of the arms E E.

J is a reservoir of compressed air.

K is a carbureter,

L M Y are pipes connecting the carbureter K, reservoir J, and cylinderF.

A part of the compressed air from the reservoirJ passes through thecarbureter K and becomes impregnated with a combustible vapor. Anotherportion of said air passes through the pipe Y and mixes in the pipe Lwith the portion that has passed through the carbureter K to. form anexplosive mixture. The cock in the pipe Y is used to regulate the sizeof the passage through said pipe, and consequently the amount of airthat passes to the pipe L, without passing through the carbureter K.

N is a yoke secured to the cylinder F and extending diametrically acrossthe rear end of said cylinder.

P is a piston fitting and adapted to reciprocate in the larger portionof the cylinder F.

cl cl are guide-rods secured to the piston P and passing throughapertures in the yoke N.

e e are coil-springs surrounding the guiderods (Z d, pressing by theirelasticity against the yoke N and against the piston P.

W is a hand -screw the shank of which passes through the yoke N,concentric with the cylinder F. The inner end of the shank of thehand-screw W is adapted to limit the backward travel of the piston P.

When the gas between the pistons P and G is at the tension of theatmosphere, the piston P is forced by the pressure of the springs e e tothe inner end of the enlarged portion of the cylinder F, in which saidpiston reciprocates.

A is a valve-rod connected at one end to an eccentric on a sleeve aroundthe shaft B, said sleeve being rigidly connected to the arms E E.

A is a valve-case in which is a valve operated by the rod A to admit thecharge at the,

proper moment and to exhaust the products of combustion as required.

I have not attempted to show and describe the valve mechanism and valvesparticularly, as'they form no part of my present invention.

Q and R are cylindrical chambers, each of which is closed at one end andat the other end communicates by a passage fwith the cylinder F.

g is a valve which may close the passage between the chambers Q and thecylinder F.

77. is a spring adapted to force the valve 9, passing through astuffing-box in the end of the chamber Q.

j is a valve entirely similar to the valve 9, adapted to close thepassage between the chamber R and the cylinder F.

The chamber R is divided into two compartments by a diaphragm orpartition.

m is a valve located about midway between j and m.

the ends of the chamber R and adapted to close all connections betweenthe two portions of said chamber.

'22, is a spring acting to force the valve j against its seat.

1) is a spring acting against its seat.

0' is a valve-stem secured to the valvej and passing through an aperturein the valve on and through a stuffing-box in the end of the chamber R.

q is a lug upon the valve-stem 0', located a short distance from thevalve on when the valve j is on its seat.

The operation of the above-described device is as follows: Air iscompressed to asmall tension and forced into the reservoir J by anauxiliary pump. (Not shown.) This air is carbureted and converted intoan explosive mixture on its way to the cylinder F, When the piston G hasreached the position shown, the inlet-valve is opened, permitting theexplosive mixture to rush in between the pistons P and G, forcing thepiston P back until it strikes the hand-screw W. At this point theinlet-valve is closed and the charge is ignited by an electric spark orotherwise. The force of the explosion drives the piston Gr forward,compressing the air before it. When the force of the explosion has spentitself, the piston G comes to rest, and the compressed air before itdrives said piston back to its first position and imparts the en ergystored up in said air to the main shaft B by means of the clutches uponthe arms E E.

If the valves g and j are closed, the only air compressed by the pistonG will be that in the cylinder F and passages f f, and by the stroke ofsaid piston will be compressed to comparatively high tension. If thevalve j is opened by pressing the stem o in a short distance, the pistonG will compress the additional amount of aircontained between valves Thestroke of said piston will be somewhat longer and the tension of the airwill be somewhat less than under the firstnamed conditions. If thevalve-stem r is to hold the valve in pressed still farther in, the lug qwill strike against the valve m and force said valve away from its seat,so that all the air in chamber R will be compressed by the forwardmovement of the piston G.

The valve 9 may be opened in the same manner as the valve j, adding theamount of air in the chamber Q to that to be compressed by the forwardmovement of the piston G. In this way the stroke of the piston G and thetension of the air compressed before it may be varied between limits,and by screwing the hand-screw IV in or out the amount of the charge maybe varied to adapt the energy of explosion to the amount of resistance,so that the action of the engine may be adapted to the work required ofit. An auxiliary spring may be used to bring the piston G back to thesame place at the end of each stroke and to prevent the force of theexplosive mixture from moving piston G.

As the cross-section of the cylinder F at that portion in which thepiston P travels is considerably greater than that of the rest of thecylinder, only a short travel of said piston is required to admit thenecessary quantity of explosive mixture, so that only a short time islost in getting the charge into said cylinder. It will be noticed thatthe pistons P and G come nearly together at the end of each stroke, sothat nearly all the products of combustion are expelled in the exhaust.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. In a gas-engine in which the work of the explosion is stored in anair-cushion, the combination of a chamber for containing the airconstituting said cushion, one or more auxiliary air chambers, and oneor more valves adapted to close the passage between said chambers,substantially as shown and described.

2. In a gas-engine in which the work of the explosion is stored up in anair-cushion, an auxiliary air-chamber R, communicating with the mainchamber, the chamber B, being divided into two compartments, valves j anadapted to close the passages between said compartments and the mainchamber a valvestem 4, secured to the valve 3', said valvestem passingthrough, and adapted to slide through an aperture in the valve m, and alug q, upon said valve-stem, substantially as shown and for the purposesdescribed.

HENRY O. HART.

Witnesses:

AMELIA. J. WILLrAMs, ELLIOTT J. STODDARD.

